I am influenced by freebies

This isn’t specifically mobile related so feel free to skip on.

I thought I should define my position in terms of freebies. I’ve seen a lot of discussion around the ‘sphere about Microsoft’s apparent strategy of offering tech-related bloggers £3k laptops on which to test out Vista. I reckon this makes a lot of sense. If I was a potential Vista reviewer with thousands of interested readers checking out my blog, I’d want to check it out — and ideally I’d want to check it out on a hot piece of kit — and also on a bog standard Pentium I had lying around to see how performance differs.

On one hand, I can certainly understand and very much respect the independent viewpoint. One expects your Walt Mossbergs and other widely read journalists to be independent and not swayed by freebies. Being given a high tech laptop and being allowed to keep it after the review does certainly call into question the validity and independence of the reviewer.

On the other hand, I’m not entirely sure how Microsoft (in this example) can expect some bloggers, who perhaps aren’t professional, full-time dedicated publishers, to be able to afford to splash out a few grand on a new high spec machine to check out Vista in all its glory (as well as trying it on a less powerful ‘upgrade’ machine).

Having thought about the issue, I think I should clearly define my position thus: I am influenced by freebies.

If you send me something, I am more than likely going to write about it. Photograph it. Stick links on the blog about it. Tell people about it. Evangelise it. Wear it. And so on.

But I can’t guarantee this. If you’ve sent me a piece of shit, well, I am either going to call-a-spade-a-spade or not bother covering it. I’m not afraid to do so. Just have do a search for the word ‘shit’ or ‘arse’ to see recent examples.

So yes, I am influenced by freebies. Whether or not the text I write in response is positive or negative is entirely down to how I feel about it. That’s what you’re getting from SMS Text News. That is, unless it’s a quote from another source, it’s rather clear that you’re reading my opinion — whatever I deign to write.

Recently I was sent a copy of the 82ask book. I was asked if I’d like to review it. ‘SURE!’ I replied. And I did. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Although now I come to think about it, I didn’t explicitly make the point of saying that I’d been sent the book at no cost to myself.

On the other hand, I’ve been hammering UK mobile operator Three (now and again) about their data policies whilst (perhaps annoyingly!) paying them at least £100 a month. I am, however, completely changed on them now after their X-Series launch. You can follow my frustrations in chronological format right here on the blog!

In November, I flew out to Nokia World to cover the conference, walk around and check things out. I didn’t have to pay for entry. In fact I even got a ‘press’ badge and got to ply myself with endless Cokes and chocolate muffins in the press area whilst getting strange looks from the people from Bloomberg. I ended up paying for my hotel and flight just because I was all over the place 😉 I wrote some nice things, I think, about Nokia and Nokia World. Did the fact they invited me influence my perspective of Nokia? Probably. Did I write positive things as a result? Well, no actually, I think I was pretty positive about them anyway.

What about the launch of Three’s X-Series? Another mobile blogger told me about the launch and since they couldn’t go, suggested I email for an invite. I didn’t get one 😉 In fact I didn’t get a response. That didn’t colour my judgement per se — as I *KNOW* it would have been exactly the same — the big burning issue being how much X-Series was going to cost.

Then there’s the Nokia E61 I was given to try out by Good Mobile Messaging. I was allowed to keep it after testing it out. Right on. That’s cool. I think it’s a brilliant device. However, I actually think it’s the Good technology that makes it for me. Prior to being given the handset, I hadn’t bothered to try out Good. I couldn’t be bothered actually. I didn’t want to make the time to try out something that I connected strongly with Windows Mobile (and I am not often best disposed to Windows Mobile when the devices perform really slowly).

Having the device thrust into my hands with Good working on it changed my opinion completely. 100% about turn, to the extent that I dropped the Blackberry I’d been using immediately. I blogged specifically on this.

Journalistic puritans would, no doubt, argue that this is a prime example of a company manipulating coverage. I think so. But I’m delighted that they did. They manipulated my viewpoint by giving me a device to try out. I wouldn’t have bothered otherwise. Is this a bad thing? I don’t think so. I’ve had hundreds of mails from people reacting well to both my comments on the E61 and Good Mobile Messaging. I also believe that the experience was interesting for those reading. The chaps at Good helped me produce some quality coverage.

I expect someone like CNET to give unbiased and balanced coverage. However I never aim to provide comprehensive or extensive reviews or coverage. In part because I’m too busy and in part because, well, everyone reads the likes of CNET to get that sort of thing. As far as SMS Text News goes, I usually pick a few elements and, even if someone’s sent me a press release, I’ll quote a few paragraphs from it and then add some commentary. That’s my style.

Would I feel that I have to do a proper review if someone sent me something? Probably. However the reality there is that I don’t have time. I don’t have journalist level time to sit and knock out a heck of a lot of text unless I really believe in it or unless I’ve got something specific to say — if it’s a particular passionate subject, for example.

I’m open to manipulation within my own personal limits. That’s why I’ve got an email address on the contact form. I want people to email me news, thoughts, opinion. I’m happy to be mailed stuff physically too — provided it’s relevant to mobile.

I’m also aware that everything I write is being archived by Google and more for all time 😉 and I’m not writing under a pen name or a faceless brand — so I’m conscious of not writing absolute rubbish.

At the same time, I’ve no higher calling to journalistic excellence requiring me to equally distribute attention between the world’s mobile messaging service providers. I’ve no editor screaming down my neck demanding I churn out 3 stories a day. I’ve no code of practice that specifically requires me to give balanced editorial to all players in the industry (e.g. whenever the BBC mentions the iPod, they also mention that ‘other music players are available’). Sometimes I do. Sometimes I don’t. It generally depends how busy and pressured I am.

So when I wrote some long pieces about Good, Fasthosts and the E61, I didn’t write equally lengthly pieces about Blackberry — in part because no one from Blackberry has spoken to me and given me a reason to do so, and in part because my publishing style is eratic. It’s on demand. It’s whenever I can!

If you fly me first class to Los Angeles and put me up in the Four Seasons for a week so I can review a device or service……. is that going to colour my judgement? You bet. It’ll probably afford a blog or two on the subject! But I would a) declare it on the blog and b) be functionally unable to write ‘it’s a brilliant device’ if it is, in fact, totally crap. A final point: I probably couldn’t do this because of work commitments. That’d be an arse if someone did actually invite me wouldn’t it?

My final point is this: If I was running a mobile related company and I wanted people to check out my product or service comprehensively, then I’d instruct my marketing person to contact as many relevant bloggers as possible and ask if they have time to meet and whether or not they would be interested in trying our device/service in question. If it’s a small ticket item, I’d probably instruct my team to just let the blogger keep it. I’d be getting as many devices as possible out to bloggers. If it was a £150,000 Bentley Continental GT the blogger was reviewing, I’d probably want it back after a week — but if it was a laptop or a phone or something, I think I’d probably tell my marketing folk not to bother asking for it back. The logistic costs of arranging pick up from a blogger who’s probably not working from a central office (like a journalist) would become an arse. I know we can control the cost of delivery. But the cost of arranging pick-up, well, that could get complicated if I’m having to get UPS to repeatedly visit due to missed pick-up times and so on.

I’d understand that, irrespective of whether we’re letting the blogger keep the device/free service, we’re not guaranteed a glowing review. The best I’d hope for is a mention. If we give away a device/free service, and the blogger never mentions it once, well, that’s an arse, but that’s the cost of doing business. I’d sooner the blogger HAD my device, had received it, possibly opened it up, had a look around, and then dropped it back in its box, never to use it again — so that in 6 months time, when someone asks that blogger at a conference, ‘Have you checked out X or Y’, at least the blogger will say, ‘well, yes I have…’ I’d have our marketing people doing this with famous people. Influential people. Folk in the mobile industry. People in the press. People who in awards. CEOs of mobile companies. Famous kids, popstars, musicians, filmstars, ‘celebrities’, as well as companies who provide competing products or services. I’d want my devices/services out there and being looked at, if not used, by people in the know.

To summarise: If I’m sent something, just like if I’m mailed a press release or a review request, I’m pretty much guaranteed to cover it. Will the coverage be positive? That depends on how I react to it. If I react positively, then yes. My objective with this blog is to give you the same opinion via text that I would give you if I was sat next to you in a bar. I do think it’s important to specifically declare if I’ve received something for free and I’m going to be more direct about that in future.

So, if you’ve got an all expenses paid trip to Barbados for someone to review the latest mobile handset, do let me know 😉 In fact if you’ve got 5 places there, .. you do? Brilliant! I’ll do a competition on the site for the audience and bring along an SMS Text News crowd, right? 🙂 Excellent…